Friends and family of a much-missed York man were joined by an Olympic legend at the Minster today (Friday) before setting off on the final stage of a major fundraising journey.
Charlie Dallas Lancaster died in the summer of 2020, aged 36, after many years struggling with his mental health.
He was a well-known and liked member of the York business community, co-founding the successful estate agency Lancaster Samms, and sitting on the board of charity organisation, The York Round Table.
The Charlie Dallas Lancaster Foundation was set up in his memory. CDLF aims to carry on the work of supporting charities and helping others, something that Charlie was passionate about.
In particular, CDLF raise funds to support the provision of much needed mental health services as well as providing funds to other organisations and individuals working in the sphere of mental health and suicide prevention.
Today, Charlie’s birthday, saw the culmination of the A Mile A Life fundraising running event.
Over the last month, people have been walking and running for the charity, aiming to cover 5,583 miles – marking the number of lives lost to suicide in England and Wales in 2021.
The final leg of the event saw supporters gather at the Minster before walking to Charlie’s memorial bench at the Crematorium in Bishopthorpe.
They were joined by double gold medal winning Olympic triathlete Alistair Brownlee, York Central MP Rachael Maskell, who chairs the parliamentary group on mental health, and Persimmon Homes Yorkshire MD Scott Waters, who knew Charlie.
He presented a cheque for £5,000 from Persimmon’s Community Champions Initiative to the foundation.
Charlie’s sister, Victoria Taylor, said: “It’s our third year of doing this. The idea is that it creates a big sense of community and that creates a structure or route for people because not everybody needs crisis intervention.
“We are a fundraising organisation and we then gift the money on to other mental health support networks and charities locally.
“Charlie was massively into therapy and counselling, but that’s not for everyone and we have helped other forms of support including – Box Therapy, where people get involved in non-contact boxing and are supported by a team of therapists.”
Scott Waters said: “ Charlie was well-known and much-liked in York, and so we’re delighted to be able to support the fantastic work of the CDLF through our Community Champions Initiative to help them to be able to continue to do such good work.”
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